Disney World Christmas Trip Report – Part 1

The next day we headed for the Studios. First up on the agenda, thanks to long wait times everywhere else and no FastPasses at TSM, was the Backlot Tour. This was actually the first time I had seen the BLT since Lights, Motors, Action had been added to the park. I don’t need to beat a dead horse with this one…the BLT is a huge disappointment now, and everyone knows it. It was neat seeing Sarah experience Catastrophe Canyon for the first time. I also got a couple cool photos, so I guess not all was lost.

The rest of the morning and afternoon at DHS was pretty standard, with lunch at Pizza Planet (they got rid of the ranch dressing!). We got FPs for the headliners and hit most of our favorites. At one point, I wandered away from everyone else while taking pictures.

Sarah called me to tell me that they were heading to Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular, and when I pulled my iPhone from my pocket, the thing ended on the concrete. For some idiotic reason, I don’t use a case, so the end result was a severely cracked screen. For a few minutes, it also said “no SIM card,” so I really thought I was screwed. Luckily, that message went away by the end of Indy.

Possibly to take my mind off the phone, more probably because she’s just crazy like that, my mom enthusiastically tried to get selected to participate in the show, and was selected. Her performance was humorous, and it gave some new “life” to a show that we’ve seen many, many times. It amazes me that this show remains fresh (I think so, at least), while a show less than half its age, LMA, needs to go. LMA is just so poorly paced and outstays its welcome.

At 6:45 pm, it was time for us to break off from my parents and do another Reunion event put on by Mouse Fan Travel. I felt a little bad about this, as I know they would have enjoyed it, but Sarah and I got the last two tickets for the event, and two additional tickets never became available. My parents ended up getting to see the Osborne Lights and riding TSM to end the night, though, so I think they had fun, too.

The event began with all of us meeting near Rock ‘N’ Rollercoaster. The Mouse Fan people repeatedly warned us to have our cameras put away when we went backstage, a warning we heeded. After all, I figured there was little point in taking photos of utility vehicles or whatever else was backstage. I did not anticipate what I ended up seeing, which was…Walt’s cryogenically frozen body!!! It was just sitting there, on the lot! Okay, not really, but with all the warnings, I expected something like that. What I actually saw was all of Tower of Terror from the backside. It was really cool, and I wish I could have photographed it. Stupid rules.

Once our walking concluded, we arrived at the dessert party (I didn’t mention it above, but this event was called “Desserts and Delights”). I assumed, for some reason, the dessert party would be held in some random building. Much to my delight, it was held in a prime viewing area of Fantasmic! This was especially exciting for me, as I had already conceded to Sarah that we wouldn’t attend Fantasmic this trip (she’s not a fan of the WDW version).

I was able to enjoy some wonderful desserts AND photograph Fantasmic with the 70-200 f/2.8 and (more importantly) an unobstructed viewed. The event was already worth its $28 price tag. Yet, it was not over. After that, we were led backstage again to an area that looked like it was near Pixar Place.

When we emerged back on stage, we saw people in front of us begin to head into TSM. The whole line of people began cheering. I swear, this ride is like the elusive Christmas toy (maybe it shares blood lines with Tickle Me Elmo?). It normally takes “work” to be able to ride it; walking on is like finding the Tickle Me Elmo just randomly sitting on a store shelf…back in 2000, when it was hard to find. You get the idea.

We had been talking to Reilly the entire time we walked from backstage, and thought we were becoming friends. However, Reilly thought differently, cutting us at the last minute when he couldn’t enter the appropriate ride vehicle out of his load gate. Oh well, he’s from California.

For those curious, I beat Sarah. That was like icing on the cake, but in this case, the cake hadn’t even arrived yet! The “cake,” as it were, was experiencing the Osborne Lights with just our group. So much had already occurred without even getting to that point yet.

Finally, we arrived at the lights and set up to take a group photo. As the photographer counted backwards, hitting “1,” all of the lights turned on. We erupted in cheers. We didn’t have a whole lot of time at the lights, but we availed ourselves of the opportunity for some “clean” shots. We could always enjoy the lights a later night–now was the chance for photos! The event didn’t last that long, but given the electricity being eaten, I’m not too surprised by that. Overall, it was an amazing experience. Definitely something I would do again!

!SAMTSIRHC YRREM by Tom Bricker (WDWFigment), on Flickr

After this event, Henry mentioned that some of them were heading out. While Sarah and I had been to the Adventure’s Club several times, we typically didn’t go out while at WDW because that’s lost time in the parks. We had just heard that the Magic Kingdom’s hours were extended until 1 a.m., which meant if we headed there right then, we’d have nearly 2 hours in the park. That said, it was really cold this particular evening, and we had plenty of nights ahead of us, so we thought what the heck. The first stop of the evening was Kimonos, a karaoke bar in the Swan. This was my first time at a karaoke bar, and it was pretty fun listening to all of the ridiculous renditions of songs. Even better was this one upper-middle aged man who kept singing various songs for the clear purpose of impressing a lady near the stage. For his own sake, I really hope he was drunk; if not, his ability to pick up on social cues and ‘play it cool’ were both sorely lacking. Either way, though, it entertained me. We closed up shop with Reilly performing a stirring rendition of some song by the Backstreet Boys before leaving.

Atlantic Dance Hall was still open, so we figured, why not, and headed there. If ever evidence of how not to run a successful club, the Dance Hall was it. Sadly, it reminded me of another club at Pleasure Island (can’t remember which one–we only were there for like 10 minutes before leaving due to it being so lame) prior to the island’s closing. If all Disney clubs managed to be this lame, it’s no wonder they closed Pleasure Island! Despite the Dance Hall itself being an audio and visual mess, there were enough of us there to make it fun. Plus, the people there who genuinely liked the Dance Hall (I would imagine it takes a certain awkward type) made the evening really amusing. When closing time came, everyone was immediately forced to leave. I’ve never seen anything quite like that, but perhaps it was Disney’s way of sparing us from having to endure that train wreck for even a few seconds longer.

It ended up being one of the most fun nights of the trip. Letting loose, so to speak, with other individuals down there for Reunion was a great time, and talking shop about all things Disney was great. Discussing the future of California Adventure or the viability of a River Country DVC is probably a more typical bar conversation, but as Disney geeks, I think we all had a good time.

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